| 其他摘要 | As indicated in previous studies, when waste sorting facilities are at a short distance to people, and the degree of feasibility (i.e. convenience) of them is high, people are more likely to separate waste. According to construal level theory, spatial distance is one of the dimensions of psychological distance. As the spatial distance from the waste sorting facilities decreases, people may use increasingly lower level of construal to perceive the waste sorting facilities, and people with lower level of construal are more likely to focus on the feasibility of waste sorting facilities. Besides, guilt is a typical moral emotion, which can make individuals pay attention to the influence of their own behavior on others and regulate their behavior. Therefore, inducing the sense of guilt among individuals under the situation of low feasibility may improve the quality of waste separation. This research conducted two studies, study one (Experiment 1, Experiment 2) examined the influence of spatial distance and feasibility on waste separation, as well as the effect of guilt on pro-environmental behavior related to waste separation. Experiment 1 investigated the impact of spatial distance (distant vs. near) and feasibility (high vs. low) on sorting intention. The participants (82 adults) were asked to read a description of a hypothetical scenario for manipulating the spatial distance of waste sorting facilities, and then the participants reported the degree of feasibility of waste sorting facilities and their waste separation behavioral intention. The results of Experiment 1 showed that when the waste sorting facilities were at a short spatial distance to participants, and the degree of feasibility of them was high, and that participants in the high feasibility situation were more inclined to separate waste than those in the low feasibility situation. Experiment 2 studied a real donation behavior to examine whether guilt can promote the pro-environmental behavior related to waste separation, which participants (63 adults) completed the recall and reading tasks that validated in multiple previous studies to induce the sense of guilt and reported donation amount under the two conditions (guilt vs. control). The results of Experiment 2 found that guilt increased the donation value of participants when compared with those in the control condition. Study two (Experiment 3, Experiment 4) explored the interactive effect of feasibility and guilt on the waste separation of the residents, including adolescents and adults, as well as the psychological mechanisms involved in this process. Experiment 3 used a mixed experimental design of 2 (emotion: guilt vs. control) ×2 (feasibility: high vs. low), the participants (113 adolescents) first read the description used in Experiment 1 to elicit their perception about the degree of feasibility, and then completed the recall and reading tasks to induce their sense of guilt. Afterwards, their waste separation behavioral intention was measured. The results of Experiment 3 showed that the sorting facilities were spatially close, the degree of feasibility of sorting facilities was higher, and the waste separation behavioral intention of participants was also higher. In addition, under the low feasibility condition, the participants in the guilt group were more likely to engage in waste separation than those in the control group. Finally, the design of Experiment 4 also used a mixed experimental design of 2 (emotion: guilt vs. control) ×2 (feasibility: high vs. low). The participants (62 adults) completed the same tasks used in Experiment 3 to elicit the perception about the degree of feasibility and the sense of guilt, and then their waste separation behavioral intention and donation amount were measured. The results of Experiment 4 were consistent with those of Experiment 3, the degree of feasibility had a positive relationship with the spatial distance, and under the low feasibility condition, the participants in guilt group showed higher waste separation behavioral intention than those in the control group. However, guilt may not increase the participants’ donation value compared with those in the control condition. This is probably because the influence of moral self-regulation reduced the motivation of participants to engage in the extra pro-environmental behavior. In conclusion, this research empirically studied the mechanisms of spatial distance and the feasibility of waste separation. When the degree of feasibility of sorting facilities was higher, the individuals increased their sorting intention. This process can be explained by the construal level theory. That is, when individuals perceive the objects, being at a short distance, they tend to adopt a low construal level and focus on the feasibility of objects. Furthermore, guilt moderated the relation between feasibility and waste separation behavioral intention, which verified the positive function of moral emotion. However, the positive effect of guilt on pro-environmental behavior can be affected by moral self-regulation. |
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